Referral Program Terms

1. The short version

This document sets out the terms of the CareerByteCode community referral program. It applies whenever you use a ref code issued to you through the community Refer portal at /refer/. This program forms part of our Terms and Conditions.

2. How the program works

You apply through /refer/apply.php from an email address you can sign in to with Google. When we approve your application, we issue you one or more ref codes and add them to the roster. Each ref code becomes a shareable link of the form https://www.careerbytecode.in/?ref=YOURCODE.

When someone visits any page on our site with a valid ref parameter, we store your code in a first-party cookie in their browser for 90 days. If that same person then buys a qualifying course, we credit the purchase to you and record a commission at the rate on your row at the time of purchase.

You can also share deep links to specific courses or landing pages. The ?ref=YOURCODE parameter works on every public URL on the site.

3. Commission

The default commission rate is a flat 15% of the pre-GST base amount of every qualifying purchase attributed to your ref code. We calculate on the base fee only; the 18% GST that customers pay on top of the base fee is not part of your commission.

Your rate is set on your roster row and is applied at the moment a purchase is attributed. Historical purchases are not retroactively adjusted if your rate changes later; the rate that was on your row at the time of purchase is the rate that gets paid.

An admin may agree a rate other than 15% with you individually. When that happens, we set the rate on your roster row and the same rules apply from that point onward.

4. Attribution window

We use a last-click, 90-day attribution model.

• Last click. If a customer visits with your ref code and then later visits with a different referrer's ref code, the later click replaces yours. Whoever's code was on the last valid click before purchase is credited.
• 90-day window. The ref cookie lives for 90 days from the click that set it. If a customer clicks your link on 1 March and buys on 15 May, that purchase is credited to you. If they buy on 1 June, it is not.
• First-party cookie. The ref cookie is set on our own domain. It is not visible to any other website and does not follow the customer around the wider web.

You should not attempt to defeat, extend, or otherwise manipulate this window. Termination triggers in section 10 cover the main patterns we watch for.

5. Qualifying purchases

The following purchases count for commission:

• All courses listed under /courses/, including bootcamps, masterclasses, and paid internships.
• Both live cohort seats and any future self-paced seats we may sell for those same course codes.

Commission is calculated on the fee the customer actually paid, net of any coupon or promotional code they used, before GST is added.

6. Non-qualifying purchases

The following do not count for commission at this version of the program:

• Community memberships, including the Students plan and any other recurring community subscription.
• Event registrations and ticket sales, both in-person and online.
• Consulting engagements and corporate partnership contracts.
• Any purchase made from an email address that appears on your own roster row, or from any email address you have submitted to us as belonging to an immediate family member.
• Any purchase where the customer specifies a different valid ref code at checkout, or arrives with a different valid ref click within the 90-day window (the last click wins).
• Any purchase we later determine was completed through fraud, chargeback, or a payment that was never actually cleared to us.

We may add categories to this list. If we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and grandfather any purchase already attributed to you at the previous version.

7. Refund clawback

If a qualifying purchase attributed to you is later refunded, in whole or in part, the commission on that purchase is clawed back in proportion to the refunded amount. Where the refund is full, the full commission is clawed back.

Clawback is not retroactive against payouts that have already gone out. Instead, we net the clawback amount against your next unpaid payout run. If your next run is smaller than the clawback owed, we roll the balance forward until it is covered.

Refunds that qualify under our Refund and Cancellation Policy proceed on their own timeline; the clawback happens when the refund is actually processed, not when the customer requests it.

8. Payment cadence

Payouts run on the first business day of each month, covering confirmed purchases from the prior calendar month, minus any refund clawbacks recorded during the acknowledgement window.

• A purchase is confirmed once the payment provider has cleared it and the customer has passed any applicable refund window on that specific course.
• Payouts under ₹500 roll forward and combine with the following month. This keeps small commissions in one clean payment rather than a stream of tiny transfers.
• Payouts go to the bank account on file for the email address that owns your ref code. If we do not have your bank details, we will contact you to collect them before the first payout.

9. TDS handling

Once your commission earnings in an Indian financial year (April to March) cross ₹15,000, we deduct 5% TDS on payouts from that point onward, under Section 194H of the Income Tax Act, 1961. This is the standard rate for commission and brokerage.

We report the deduction to the tax authorities against your PAN and issue you Form 16A for the relevant quarters. You will need to provide a valid PAN before your first payout; without one, we may be required to deduct at a higher rate under Section 206AA.

If the rate under Section 194H changes, we apply the rate in force on the date of the payout, not the rate in force on this page.

10. Termination

We may deactivate your ref code, decline to pay unpaid commission, and terminate your participation in the program if we determine any of the following:

• Fraud, misrepresentation, or attempts to game the attribution window.
• Purchases from your own email address, or from an email address belonging to an immediate family member, where the intent is to earn commission on your own spend.
• Incentivised clicks, including paid-to-click schemes, coupon aggregator listings, false-scarcity claims, or any promise to a customer that they will receive cash or gifts in exchange for using your code.
• Impersonation of CareerByteCode or of any instructor, or any implication that you are an official employee or representative when you are not.
• Sharing your ref code through channels that violate the acceptable use policies of the platforms you post on, including but not limited to email spam and unsolicited direct messages at scale.

Termination for cause forfeits unpaid commission accrued at the time of the determination. Where the facts are ambiguous, we may pause payouts while we investigate and either release them or forfeit them at the end of the review.

You may terminate your own participation at any time by writing to support@careerbytecode.in. We will pay out any commission already confirmed and unpaid at the next scheduled run.

11. Governing law

This program is operated by Cloudnloud Technologies Pvt Ltd, doing business as CareerByteCode, registered at 132, Pillayar Koil Street, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 600073. Any disputes arising from this program are governed by the laws of India and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

12. Contact

Questions about this program, payouts, or your ref code: support@careerbytecode.in, or Cloudnloud Technologies Pvt Ltd, 132, Pillayar Koil Street, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 600073.